First I agree with Mr. Brenholtz and Mr.Stephens observation about Wanderlust.Jeff's material on this release is quite intelligent. There are no meandering chord structures or other things insipid. For example, like verb tails that get chopped off as if no one is listening.

Jeff's attention to detail is wonderful here (color and space) I will spare y'll the tour guide style review and simply say I like it and I will be back for repeated listens. Thank you Jeff for spending the time on Wanderlust, it is appreciated. I especially appreciate how hard it is to find time to work on solo projects. So, when is your next one coming out again?

Out of stock already! Grrr! I'd prefer to do more one-stop shopping at AB-CD or Forced Exposure.It sounds great though.

Archie at eurock.com has them and cdbaby.com too. Amazon has them now...they under order, a real problem.Forced Exposure may have them soon. That goes for the Human Being: Live at the Zodiak release as well

May 26th marks the official release date of Qua on Nepenthe Music. The first Cluster studio release in more than a decade. I have to say IMHO, this one is right up there with Zuckerzeit and Sowiesoso. More details to follow.

For those of you not familiar with this project, here is a brief description from the liner notes. I should add that the liner notes are extensive.

Where do we start? Let s take summer 1968 at the Zodiak underground music club beneath 32 Hallesches Ufer in West Berlin s Kreuzberg Quarter. It was here that Human Being is uncompromisingly loud debut rattled the foundations of the Wirtschaftswunder, West Germany s post-war economic miracle, as if willing it to collapse. The tools of the 1960s American and British rock trade guitar, organ, drums were present and correct. But this wasn t the sound of The Doors or Rolling Stones. The instruments were scraped and beaten, fed through early reverb, delay and echo units, the output sounding like industrial machines gone berserk. Tune into Live at the Zodiak 1968, with the volume up to the max, and you ll know why people came away stunned by the alien weirdness of it all. Who was Human Being? A collective of non-musicians with anti-hippie black t-shirts and pre-punk defiance; Elke Lixfeld, Broderick Price, Beatrix Rief, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Boris Schaak, Verena Schirz and Christoph Sievernich plus sometime guests Norbert and Rita Eisbrenner, Werner Goetz and others. Even to the seriously hip Zodiak crowd with a cocked ear for Hendrix and Zappa imports, the Human Being experience was unlike any before it. Yet repeat listens to Live at the Zodiak 1968 tells us their 400-watt noise was charged with a human impulse. If you organize this noise, the Zodiak s co-founder Conrad Schnitzler told Roedelius, it s not just pure chaos, it can grow into music. And out of the chaos, a sense of redemption for a nation sick of the past and confused about the future... Stephen Iliffe

My own favorite performance ever was at The Gathering series in Philadelphia (I played with Dave Fulton and Jeff Pearce in 2000, right after the release of Imprint and Bleed... in fact it was the release party for both CDs), along with a late-night performance live on the air on Star's End radio. I know many other ambient artists who say the same thing about Philadelphia, The Gatherings, St. Mary's Church, WXPN, Star's End, and Chuck VanZyl. I also met many Hypnos Forum people that night (Brian Bieniowski, Stephen Philips, Jim Brenholts, Jeff Kowal, others I'm probably forgetting... I should look for those pictures on my hard drive)

I agree with Mike on this. Chuck, Jeff and crew (including Bill Beck) do a really great job of making things run smooth. In the pass 3 years i have played twice at The Gatherings Concert Series and Stars End. And without question, these 2 are my favorite places to play. And it is true, it is a great place to put a face on those who you have met online.

Interesting topic. When I was 16 I became ill with the mumps...and being 16 I blew it off even thou I didn't feel well. In any case you can guess what happened next. In my first marriage I was such a AAA looser that I am glad there were no children, for their sakes. But as time passed and in my second marriage (to the same person as the first I might add). The idea of having children is just not compelling enough to fix the problem that developed at age 16.

Dwight Ashley here and alive at age 49. I live in northwest Ohio near the Maumee river. I am an American mutt (composed of English, Scottish, Welsh, Greek and German). Ich kann deutsches wenig sprechen. Charles Ives, Ornette Coleman, John Adams, Steve Reich and Holy Toy get repeated listens at my house. Bourbon is the preferred adult beverage unless I am with Russians. In that case it's all about seeing if they can out-drink the American. I like oriental shorthair', in other words I like like cats. And like John Shanahan, I am addicted to hot sauce. Eggplant and broccoli is right out!-Formally trained on cello and piano back in the day, I have been writing music for my ears since 1976. I started releasing solo projects in 2004. Before that I mostly hid under a rock with the exception of 2 collaborations I did with Tim Story in 1991 on Multimood and again in 1997 with Lektronic Soundscapes. In all probability I will go back under that rock after I am finished with the 2 projects I have committed to work on this year (and finish 2 more solo projects I am in the middle of).

(As Bill Binkelman said) In real life, I have run a small media company for over 20 years. In addition I have a micro label call Nepenthe Music. Of interest there would be the forthcoming Cluster release (a studio recording), titled Qua and Human Being: Live at the Zodiak - Berlin 1968, which will be out very soon.

Bill Beck and I have the lurking thing here in common, as I visit here once a week.

I kept him supplied with coffee, "Here! Drink!", but totally blew it with the pizza. It was pouring rain that night and I had to rapidly carry several boxes several city blocks. The mushrooms, sausage, pepperoni and cheese all wandered to one side. I ruined the entire night.

Bill

Bill, I was quite glad you gave me coffee. I was rather tired. As for the pizza, I had not eaten that day so the pizza looked real good and I did eat.

Very sad that I won't be able to get down for this one. Since it was announced I was going to make this my Philly trip for the year. (After driving down to see Roach last year I vowed I would make one Gatherings show per year--gift to myself. So much for that...)

Have a great show, Dwight/Tim/Hans. And for whoever's going, I eagerly await your reviews!

John, I understand the costs associated with an 8 hour trip. It's amazing how things rack up $ and time wise.It would have been great to meet you in person. I am really sorry you are going to miss the Cluster set thou. It always great to watch them play!

I just want to announce that Nepenthe Music is releasing a Tim Story, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Ashley thing called Errata on November 13th.This will coincide with our performance in Philadelphia at The Gatherings Concert Series on the 15th of Nov. As an added treat Deter Moebius will be joining us in the second set.Sort of a pseudo Cluster event. Hope to see some of you there for that. Personally I am looking fwd to the meet and greeting. And of course playing in that great venue.

Later that evening I will be playing on Chuck's radio show Star’s End for a 1-2 hour live bit. Should prove interesting as I have never done a solo act before.